Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan

According to published reports in every major newspaper around the world, Pakistani Taliban have presented their preconditions for dialogue and peace. These preconditions are:
● Peace is impossible until the government embraces Sharia (Islamic law) ,
● The Pakistani Army will abandon all its posts and will not operate in North & South Waziristan,nor will it monitor the region,
● The Taliban will set up a Mujahideen Shura (or council) to administer the agency,
● An undisclosed amount of money has to be paid by the Pakistani government to the Taliban as ransom to end the fighting,
● Taliban commanders and foot soldiers must be released from Pakistani jails.
The players in these talks would want us to believe that these preconditions were drafted for the latest attempt at peace but in truth we have seen them before.
In the beginning of 2006, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban launched a military offensive against Pakistan’s military throughout both North and South Waziristan. By late spring, South Waziristan had fallen. The Pakistani military withdrew and Sharia law was established. Fighting continued in North Waziristan through the summer of 2006 with the military taking heavy losses. On September 4, 2006 the Pakistan Government and Taliban officials agreed to a truce.
Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders victoriously renamed the territory of North and South Waziristan as “The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan”. The accord established an autonomous zone for militants within Waziristan where the government of Pakistan would no longer maintain control but would still be considered a part of the sovereign territory of Pakistan.
After the Waziristan peace deal, Pakistan openly admitted that Osama bin Laden would remain a free man if committed to living peacefully in the (FATA) region. According to Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan “If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden would not be taken into custody as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen."
The agreement between the Government of Pakistan, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, was known as the “Waziristan peace accord”. The preconditions of 2014 are a carbon copy of the terms presented by a three members Taliban negotiation committee led by Mulana Sami ul Haq, in 2006.
The Waziristan peace accord was ended by the Talibans 9 months later.
In 2006, An article by a retired US army Major, Ralph Peters, titled "Blood borders" published in the Armed Forces Journal has given Pakistan some food for thought over major geopolitical readjustments. According to Major Ralph Peters “Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier tribes (FATA) would be reunited with their Afghan brethren and Pakistan would also lose its Baluch territory to Free Baluchistan.”

Now, in 2014, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al Qaeda and their apologists are still calling plays from the same playbook. Both banned terrorist outfits are trying to establish Islamic extremist sanctuaries in the FATA region, so they can operate freely like Fallujah, al-Anbar Province in Iraq and Swat in Pakistan. If the government of Pakistan and Pakistan Army do not take immediate action against these non-state actors then they should get ready for Al-Qaeda's black flags waving at every military checkpoint in the “Islamic Emirate of Waziristan”. Eventually, the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan/Islamic Emirate of Khurasan will result in the Talibanization of other parts of Pakistan as well. Also Published in ARY Bloghttp://blogs.arynews.tv/the-islamic-emirate-of-waziristan/PASHTUN WOMEN VIEWPOINThttp://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/current-issue/407-the-islamic-emirate-of-waziristanSaach TVhttp://www.saach.tv/2014/02/20/the-islamic-emirate-of-waziristan/